FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT RAIL LINK - PAGE 4

BANIHAL: A 11-km-long tunnel across the treacherous Pir Panjal mountain range on the Banihal-Qazigund railway line in Jammu and Kashmir , dedicated on June 26 by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh , is the longest such transportation passage in India and second longest in Asia. About 1,300 workers and 150 engineers worked tirelessly overcoming all odds for the last seven years to accomplish the engineering marvel. The work on the tunnel had started in November 2005.

BENGALURU: Before it completes one year in office next month, the Narendra Modi regime will give an "in -principle" approval for a suburban rail system for Bengaluru, according to Union Chemicals & Fertiliser Minister Ananth Kumar. Two railway ministers from the state, Mallikarjuna Kharge and DV Sadananda Gowda have tried to push the idea but their tenures were short to set the ball in motion. Gowda had even mentioned about it in his last year's railway budget speech. Ananth Kumar, who represents Bengaluru South in the Lok Sabha, told ET the Railway Ministry's might give its "in principle" nod. "Bengaluru is badly in need of a Mumbailike local suburban train system.Only a proper metro-suburban train system combination can decongest the city," Kumar said.

INDORE: A feasibility survey on the proposed rail link between Indore and Manmad worth Rs 2,200 crore, has been completed and sent to the Railway Board for approval. Western Railway General Manager Mahesh Kumar told this to reporters here today. "Survey of the 315 kms rail route covering 165 km in Maharashtra and 150 km in Madhya Pradesh has been completed by the Cenral Railway and sent to the Railway Board, which will now send it to the Planning Commission for final approval as projects above Rs 300 crore have to be approved by it," he said.

MUMBAI: The JSW Group today signed a 30-year concession agreement with the Konkan Railway to build a 34-km, Rs 771-crore rail link to connect its Jaigarh port on the Konkan coast. The group said it's looking at Rs 500 crore income from its ports operations this fiscal and 200 million tonnes of cargo capacity by 2020. "We expect to clock Rs 500 crore in operational revenue this fiscal, up from Rs 350 crore last fiscal from our three ports. Also, we have an ambitious plan to have 200 million tonnes of cargo capacity at ports by 2020," JSW Group chairman and managing director Sajjan Jindal said here.

BEIJING: China plans to build a 540-kilometre strategic high-speed rail link between Tibet and Nepal passing through a tunnel under Mt Everest, a move that could raise alarm in India about the Communist giant's growing influence in its neighbourhood. "A proposed extension of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway to the China-Nepal border through Tibet would boost bilateral trade and tourism as there is currently no rail line linking the two countries," state-run China Daily reported today.

BANGALORE: Karnataka Government has approved a high-speed rail link between the city and the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) at Devanahally at a cost of Rs 3,600 crore. The rail link aims to cover the 33 km distance (between the city and BIA) in 25 minutes, Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa told reporters after reviewing various projects. "It is also proposed to have check-in counters (for the BIA) on Cubbon Road (in the heart of the city)", he added. Officials said the rail link would be established under the public-private-partnership model.

AGARTALA: Officials of External Affairs and Railways ministries would review the progress of the rail link between Akhaura in Bangladesh and Tripura's state capital Agartala on December 4. The meeting would focus on factual achievements in land acquisition and compensation arrangements, official sources said. This would be the second meeting of the Project Steering Committee and would be held at the civil secretariat here. The first meeting was held on May 21 in Dhaka.

NEW DELHI: The much-awaited railway section linking Kashmir valley with rest of the country will be launched on June 25 when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi jointly flag off the first train. The 18-km-long section between Banihal in Jammu and Qazigund in Kashmir will provide an all-weather surface link to the valley which often gets snapped due to snowfall during winters. The section , which includes an 11-km-long tunnel, will reduce the distance from 35 km to 18 kms. It has been constructed at a cost of Rs 1,691 crore.

NEW DELHI: The Railway Board today told the Delhi High Court that recommendations of E Sreedharan panel on the Katra-Banihal rail link to the Kashmir Valley was only a "paper alignment" and requires further studies. The Board has told a bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva that the committee's report does not provide what would be the proposed expenditure that would be incurred for implementing the panel's recommendations. It has said a "proper assessment for good construction status of alignment in this area shall require at least five years and would entail an expenditure of about Rs 300 crore".

BEIJING: China has reportedly commissioned a "preliminary research study" to build an international rail link connecting its border province of Xinjiang to Pakistan, a contentious project from India's perspective as it runs through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). China has allocated funds for preliminary research on building an international railway connecting its westernmost city of Kashgar in Xinjiang with Pakistan's deep-sea Gwadar Port on the Arabian Sea, state-run China Daily quoted the director of Xinjiang's regional development and reform commission , Zhang Chunlin as saying today.